News
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
‘Case against Pakistan’s Mumbai attacks accused flawed’ISLAMABAD: Lawyers for seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks Monday said the case against them “lacks evidence”, a day before the fifth anniversary of the assault that left 166 people dead.
The three-day onslaught by 10 heavily-armed men on high-profile targets in India’s financial capital was blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) militant group and relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours plunged. Pakistan charged seven men in 2009 over the attacks, but has insisted it needs to gather more evidence in India before proceeding further, infuriating New Delhi. Rizwan Abbasi, a lawyer for the men, on Monday said the Indians only had themselves to blame for the slow progress.
“This case has many legal flaws and lacks evidence. It is being delayed in Pakistan because India has failed to provide required evidence against the accused,” he told a news conference. The only gunman to survive the siege, Ajmal Kasab, was tried in Mumbai and hanged late last year for waging war against India, murder and terrorist attacks. “By hanging Kasab, India destroyed the only living evidence of these attacks and created problems for investigations in Pakistan,” Abbasi said.
New Delhi has branded Pakistan’s attempts at prosecuting the men a “facade” and has insisted it has already handed over enough evidence to convict the accused. In July last year Pakistan told India that fresh evidence in the case was inadmissible because Pakistani lawyers were not given the chance to cross-examine Indian officials. Abbasi claimed the dossiers handed over by India contained only “information and no solid evidence”.
“There was also no proof that the attackers had any link with my clients because the phone numbers Indian authorities said were used for the contacts were not of Pakistani companies,” he said. New Delhi has accused elements of the Pakistani state, - notably the Inter-Services Intelligence – of involvement in the attacks, which Islamabad denies. The failure of the legal process in Pakistan to convict anyone over the bloodshed, which was broadcast around the world on live television, has hampered efforts for a lasting peace agreement with India. afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk